5
NEW S
For whom the road tolls
BY MIKE STRICKLAND
STAFF WRITER '
State officials are considering im plem enting
tolls along Interstate 205 and Interstate 5. How
might this affect Clackamas Community College
students and community members? The impact
depends on where you drive, how often you drive,
the cost and if the tolls will vary based on time of
day. In fact, m any aspects of the potential tolling
are still undecided.
As a result of th e transportation package
p assed b y th e sta te in 2017, th e O regon
Transportation Com mission w as directed to
develop a proposal for alleviating congestion on
1-5 and I-205. The m ost popular proposal is to
toll the Abemethy bridge, along w ith a stretch of
I - 5 around downtown Portland spanning from
the Alberta Street exit to the M ultnom ah Street
exit in southwest Portland.
According to dem ographics da ta o n th e
City of Portland website, th e northeast area
around Alberta Street has one of the highest
concentrations of people of color and people who
live in poverty; adding tolls to their daily costs
m ay m ean driving would be cost prohibitive for
m any of those people w ho are struggling.
Some doubt that a tolling system would be
implemented properly or m anaged efficiently.
John Charles, of Cascade Policy Institute, says tolls
could be a good idea if implemented properly. “If
w e did that, w e could gradually reduce gas tax,
which is already becoming obsolete w ith electric
cars becoming m ore comm on, and w e could
reduce the fixed cost of vehicle ownership, such
as title and registration fees. So, w e could reduce
the taxes associated w ith vehicle ownership and
replace them w ith m ore precise user fees.”
Charles says this is m arket based road pricing,
similar to how most everything else is purchased
and used in the economy, comparing the non
peak hour tolling to m atinee pricing a t a movie
theaterorhappyhouratabar. “Capacity is fixed
and expensive, demand is variable, so you try to
get dem and and supply into a n equilibrium.”
“Charging people directly for th e use of a
road or a bridge is not a n ew idea,” Charles
says. “W hat is n e w is being able to collect
electronically, at road speed, unobtrusively, and
to vary the toll rate by potentially tim e of day,
direction of travel, day of the week, so that supply
and demand would constantly be an equilibrium
and you could m a i n t a i n free flow conditions,
which is w hat drivers want. And to also generate
the revenue necessary to expand the highway.”
Charles isn ’t confident th a t th e state will
m anage a tolling system in the correct way or
reduce other vehicle ownership fees. “The way
to show th at you understand their [drivers’]
concern is to lower other taxes at exactly the
ClackamasPrint
photo by Jonathan Villagomez
sam e time. If you’re going to impose a user fee,
repeal some of the other generalized things, like
registration fees or gas tax.”
Charles also suggests th at th e legislature
give m otorists more road supply at the same
tim e as toll implementation, specifically, more
bridges across the Columbia River and a westside
bypass so commuters can avoid going through
downtown.
‘ ‘You start doing that, and you give motorists
w hat they w a n t If you actually build new high
speed highways and motorists get w hat they’ve
been anting for decades, their attitude about
tolling w ould change,” Charles said. “While
other states like California and Colorado and
Florida especially, are building lots of toll roads,
w e’re just going to be a lagger. We’re Oregon.
We should be used to that. When 49 other states
doing it so th at it’s safe and can be done, maybe
Oregon can get around to it.”
Others are even less confident in the state’s
The Sunnyside bridge over Interstate 205 in Clackamas.
ability to properly m anage a foiling sy ste m
Former state representative Julie Parrish is one
of the chief sponsors of a ballot initiative that
would mandate any potential tolling go to a vote
million in excess cost. The Abemethy Bridge is
estimated at $500 million. If w e got rid of that
excess spending, it could free up general fund
of the people before it could be done.
“Voters should have a right to vote on whether
or not our existing freeway infrastructure that
has already been built using gas tax dollars should
be tolled,” Parrishsaid. “The legislature voted to
toll our freeways without voter input Roughly 80
percent of Oregonians oppose tolling. So, since
the legislature foisted this upon voters, the only
way to give voters a say is to ta k e itto th e ballot.”
P a r r is h also shares concerns th at tolling could
ultimately prevent som e CCC students from
from attending classes. “For some students,
depending on v here they commute from, it could
be the difference of whether or not they’ll be able
to attend classes.” Parrish has other suggestions
o n h o w to fund highw ay im provem ents - -
“W ithout tolls, they could bond against gas tax
revenue. They could also bond against the growth
of general fund revenue. It’s really a decision
m aking process about budget choices. Had the
legislature bonded against th e grow th in the
state general fund. They could have done one
of these major projects every biennium for the
last eight years.”
Another possibility is to end double coverage
o n healthcare for m arried public employee
spouses. “In this case, public employees who
are m arried can get tw o fully-funded sets of
healthcare insurance plans. So, tw o teachers
m arried would get a $17,000 to $20,000 plan
per teacher per year. That cost statewide across
all government workers is conservatively $500
dollars,” Parrish said.
There’s another hurdle for those in favor of
tolling — because 1-5 and I-205 are federal
freew ays th e s ta te m u s t req u est special
perm ission from th e federal governm ent to
im p lem en t th e tolls. This fact h a s opened
u p a n e w debate in W ashington D.C. an d
C ongressw om an Jaim e H errera Beutler, a
representative of Vancouver, is ag ain st th e
tolls a n d feels th ey w ould unfairly targ et
Washingtonians who w ork in Oregon.
In a post o n Facebook, Beutler stated, “It
[the tolls] represents Oregon sw inging th e
door open to place tolls a t the m ost lucrative
spots - namely on the 1-5 and I-205 bridges
used by working class W ashington residents.
Oregon know s revenue can be collected at
those spots without any political recourse from
southwest Washington residents who have no
vote in the matter, which is w hy it continues
to barrel ahead without presenting any kind of
plan to improve the infrastructure th at m ost
southw est W ashingtonians actually use. M y
job is to give southwest W ashington residents
a say, and I’ll continue to oppose any plan th at
treats them unfairly and also underm ines our
region’s number one infrastructure priority— an
improved I - 5 bridge that can transport more cars
and freight m ore efficiently across the river.”
Don Hamilton, spokesm an for the Oregon
Department of Transportation, says th at they
are exploring mitigation efforts by way of rebates
and exemptions for low income drivers as well
thedackamasprint.com
as coupons for m ass transit options.
“It’s a m istake to say this is a done deal,”
H am ilton says. “W e are in a long period of
study. It’s going to look at w hat types of steps
can w e take to ease the potential im pact on
the economically depressed communities. It’s
going to look at w hat type of steps are needed
to inhibit any further diversion [of traffic onto
city streets]. There’s already a lot of travel on
Interstate Avenue from people that are diverting
off 1-5. Would there be further diversion once
tolling goes in? W hat are the techniques that we
can use there? There m ay be a lot of diversion
onto m ass transit w hen the tolls take place, so
those are the three mitigation questions that
w e’re looking at.”
Hamilton says th at the project is still in its
exploratory phase, a n d th a t it w ouldn’t be
implemented for several more years. “W edon’t
know w hat lanes, how m uch it’s going to be,
w hat tim e of day it’s going to be, those decisions
have not been made yet.”
According to information from the state of
Oregon, revenue to ODOT has increased by 50
percent since 2009 and forecasts continue to
show an upward trend. Hamilton stressed that
“The revenue from the tolls would be earmarked
specifically for im provements in the corridor
where they’re being made. It’s because those
costs are enormous, w e have an awful lot of
catching up to do on work that hasn’t been done
over the years.”
H am ilton says ODOT h a s done an d will
continue to do outreach w ith the public to take
citizens’ comm ents into consideration.
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F e b ru a ry 6, 2019